KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 – Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii expects Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa to hold a town hall meeting with allied health care workers sometime this March.
Staff from allied health professions in the Ministry of Health (MOH) – namely medical laboratory technologists (JTMP), radiographers, environmental health officers (also known as health inspectors), assistant environmental health officers, health care assistants (PPK), assistant medical officers or medical assistants (PPP), and physiotherapists – have criticised Dr Zaliiha’s February 22 town hall held exclusively with doctors from the public health service.
Allied health care workers pointed out that they, like doctors, face similar issues with understaffing, low wages, and job insecurity due to their contract status and the lack of permanent positions in the service.
“From my understanding, there’s another town hall arranged for allied health and all the other health care workers, where the minister and deputy minister will listen directly; we’ll find ways to address their concerns,” Dr Yii, who attended the doctors’ town hall, told CodeBlue yesterday in an exclusive interview.
“I was told it’ll be in the near future, maybe in March.”
Dr Yii explained that the town hall between Dr Zaliha and her deputy, Lukanisman Awang Sauni, together with government doctors, was organised in collaboration with the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA).
“To be fair to MOH, it’s only a limit of two hours. The whole health ecosystem is so huge. To be more productive, to be more specific, I believe it was needed to have separate sessions, so that issues can go on a more micro level.”
The government backbencher from the DAP also said he supported “reasonable” remuneration for allied health professionals.
“Health care is an ecosystem, it’s not just the doctors. It’s everybody playing their different part.
“Any policy moving forward, especially to provide longer working hours in the clinic, will require the whole ecosystem to be properly given necessary and reasonable compensation.”
